What is the SafetyCircle?
The SafetyCircle Program is a powerful workplace cultural change program that is designed for Australian and New Zealand workplaces using straight forward language and ideas. The SafetyCircle builds a positive WHS culture in organisations by empowering each employee and leader to make their workplace healthy & safe; achieve Work Safe – Enjoy Life and be able to enjoy their whole lives.
IPM Safety developed this original and powerful approach to work health and safety (WHS) in 2005 and with over 2000 participants in employee and leader sessions we have been continuously improving it since then. The key to the effectiveness of the SafetyCircle Program is in the personal engagement the conversation inspires in employees when they truly ‘get it’.

Our SafetyCircle trainers are highly experienced in leading the group conversation that investigates the real core of workplace health and safety. The central ideas involve having each individual see that they have the most to lose if WHS goes wrong, so they are the biggest stakeholder in the game.

No, it’s a cultural change tool and program. The conversation that occurs in the SafetyCircle training sessions opens employees’ eyes and minds to how a positive and strong WHS culture is in their own interests to foster; to uphold and follow the rules; and to demand this of their employer and their workmates.

Participants in the SafetyCircle and You session get to identify typical reasons ‘Why Safety Drops Out’, how to get themselves and their workmates back inside the circle and what it takes to stay inside the SafetyCircle. The common negative attitudes to WHS are typically eradicated by the session and the follow-up messages – attitudes such as: ‘WHS is over the top’; ‘WHS is about paperwork & red tape more than my safety’; ‘WHS? Boring…’; ‘WHS is just management butt-covering’.

We have found that people develop a positive attitude about WHS; attitudes like: ‘WHS is about me, so I’ll speak up more’; ‘I’m willing to interrupt my own unsafe acts and those of my workmates’; ‘WHS keeps me safe so I can enjoy my life and my family’; and so on.

No, every workplace has its own unique culture, although there are many common themes. There are two primary approaches that workplaces use to engage SafetyCircle – the START process or the SafetyCircle Program. START stands for Stop. Think. Act. Report. Talk.

It’s used by organisations who believe they do not need the full SafetyCircle Program, often because they have made significant gains in their WHS performance and need a boost to their culture. It is a shorter engagement and can have aspects of the SafetyCircle Program added to its base structure as the need demands.

The SafetyCircle Program is the full workplace transformation program, for organisations who are deeply committed to the cultural change journey and willing to “take themselves on fully”. It is customised to suit the needs of the organisation and typically includes a full SafetyCircle Leadership Program as well as a full WHS Culture Survey and Analysis along with an online WHS Dashboard to track positive and negative performance indicators relevant to WHS culture.